


My Home Is You

by fractionallyfoxtrot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Homecoming, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5136734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractionallyfoxtrot/pseuds/fractionallyfoxtrot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The last leg of a trip is always the worst. Merlin just wants to get home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Home Is You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tracionn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tracionn/gifts).



Merlin fought with his duffel bag as he got on the escalator. It had slipped off his shoulder and gotten snagged on the wrong side of the moving handrail. He yanked hard on the strap, thankfully pulling the bag free before it could drag him off the steadily moving steps. He threw it down onto the step in front of his feet, grumbling to himself as he searched his pockets for his phone.

He didn’t think about how the treatment of his bag would affect the cookies his mum had sent home with him. He was in a _mood_ and there were so many reasons for it that he couldn’t pick just one. He was tired, he was hungry, he hated flying. He was overburdened by the large duffel bag he carried in addition to his heavy backpack, determined not to check any baggage even if it felt like he was carrying around twice his body weight. All he’d wanted for weeks was to go home and waiting around to collect checked baggage would only slow him down.

He glanced ahead to gauge how much longer he’d be on the escalator. He felt he had time to send off a text – the sooner he told Gwaine he was ready to be picked up, the sooner he could get home – but his mobile was still showing a lack of signal, the text he’d sent Arthur when the plane landed still marked as ‘undelivered.’

Merlin stuffed the useless piece of technology back into his jeans pocket, trying to remember if he had enough cash to get a cab.

He bent down to grab the strap of his duffel bag as he approached the end of the escalator. He pulled the strap over his head, lifting and then letting the bag hang across his front as he stepped off the moving steps. He headed straight for the cab dispatch sign, determined to get home as soon as possible, mobile signal or not.

He was walking with such a hard-set purpose that he didn’t even notice the sign being held out bearing his name.

“Merlin!”

Merlin turned around, the bags strapped to both his back and front making him sway a little. He let out a long sigh when he saw Arthur.

Arthur walked towards him, still carrying the sign reading ‘Merlin Emrys’ in his slanted scrawl in front of him. He was wearing a black hat Merlin had never seen before but a quick look at the rest of the people waiting on arrivals, specifically the other ones holding signs with names, suggested it was part of the uniform of a hired driver.

Merlin smiled as Arthur reached him, looking a little put out, probably because Merlin had missed seeing him.

“Did you really not see me?” Arthur asked, pushing the brim of his hat up. “The sign is taller than-”

Merlin grabbed the front of Arthur’s shirt, silencing Arthur’s complaints with a kiss.

The sign fell and Arthur’s hands came up to Merlin’s face, one cupping his cheek, the other slipping around his neck to pull him into an incredibly familiar embrace. Merlin imagined he would know the touch of Arthur’s hands and the movement of Arthur’s lips against his own even if he forgot everything else he knew about the world. There was a piece of him that only Arthur held, a sense of entirety he felt only when they were together, and it slotted perfectly back into place as he tilted his head, beckoning Arthur deeper into the kiss.

He was finally, _finally_ home.

Merlin pulled back just enough to meet Arthur’s eyes.

“I missed you.”

“Yeah, you did.”

Merlin rolled his eyes, pushing Arthur away so he could shift his duffel bag from one shoulder to the other. Arthur flashed him a smile and bent down to pick up his sign.

“Maybe if you’d told me you were coming, I would’ve known to look for you,” Merlin pointed out. He was resistant when Arthur tried to give him the sign but he happily changed his mind when Arthur gestured to his duffel bag. “What happened to your meeting?”

Arthur slung the duffel bag over his shoulder then held out his hand for Merlin’s backpack.

“I got Leon to cover for me.” Arthur dropped the black hat on Merlin’s head before shouldering his backpack, smiling at the way it fell over Merlin’s eyes. “I thought I’d surprise you.”

Merlin pushed the hat up. “You did,” he smiled.

“I would’ve,” Arthur said, prompting Merlin to roll his eyes again, “if you were paying attention enough to see me.”

“Again, if you’d just told me you were coming-”

“Then it wouldn’t have been a surprise.”

They’d reached an impasse. Merlin shook his head as Arthur smiled just a little too smugly.

“Let’s just go home,” he said, tucking the sign under his arm.

“As you wish, Mr. Emrys,” Arthur said with a sharp nod.

They walked out of the terminal, Arthur leading the way as he knew where the car was. Merlin leaned against him as they waited for the lift in the parking structure, resting his head on Arthur’s shoulder once they were inside. The last of his mood fell away as Arthur slipped an arm around his waist, pulling Merlin as close as the burden of bags would allow, pressing a kiss and a sentiment to Merlin’s hair as the lift doors opened.

“I missed you too.”

“Yeah, you did.”


End file.
